Category Archives: Poverty and Inequality

People, places and possibilities – why statistics matter

People, places and possibilities – why statistics matter

The Statistician-General (SG), Mr Pali Lehohla, gave a presentation on “Why statistics matter” at the high-level Multidimensional Poverty Peer Network (MPPN) meeting in Berlin. In his presentation, he highlighted the fact that statistics are about people, places and possibilities, not about numbers. He made reference to the properties of statistics, and how they should be   read more »


Households experience increased access to piped water, but are less satisfied with the service

Households experience increased access to piped water, but are less satisfied with the service

Although the number and percentage of households in South Africa with access to piped water has increased steadily over the last decade, household satisfaction with the quality of water services has decreased. This is one of the findings from the latest release of Stats SA’s General Household Survey (GHS). Conducted on an annual basis since   read more »


Education: A roadmap out of poverty?

Education: A roadmap out of poverty?

Findings from the Poverty Trends in South Africa report released by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) on Thursday showed a strong link between increased level of education and decreased levels of poverty. While the overall level of poverty has declined between 2006 and 2011, there are stark differences when one examines poverty status according to   read more »


Poor households spend a third of their income on food

Poor households spend a third of their income on food

Poor households spend on average R8 485 per annum on food, which accounts for roughly 34% of their total household expenditure. This contrasts sharply with non-poor households, who spend R14 020 on average per annum on food. This only constitutes 10% of their total household expenditure. These findings form part of the poverty trends report which Stats   read more »


What do South Africans spend their money on

What do South Africans spend their money on

Statistics South Africa conducts an Income and Expenditure Survey (IES) every 5 years. The IES seeks to establish what South Africans spend their money on, so that the basket of goods which makes up the Consumer Price Index (CPI), used to calculate the inflation rate, can be updated. The last IES was conducted between September   read more »